AT&T to roll out LTE in five US markets

26 May 2011 |

AT&T has outlined plans to roll out LTE in five cities across the US this summer, and add a further 10 markets in the second half of the year.

AT&T CTO John Donovan announced details of the company’s mobile strategy on its website: “We’re positioning to deliver a great mobile broadband experience in the near term with HSPA+ and a growing LTE footprint,” he said.

The cities receiving LTE will be Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and San Antonio.

Donovan said the company aims to cover 70 million people by the end of 2011 and also has plans to add 20 4G devices to its portfolio this year, some of which would be LTE capable.

AT&T said it has already invested $75 billion in its wireless and wired networks over the last four years, which Donovan claims represents more capital invested in the US than any company in any industry. The company aims to invest a further $19 billion into wireless, wireline and other capital projects this year.

In Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and San Antonio AT&T said it will deliver 4G LTE over 700MHz, as well as 1700/2100MHz AWS spectrum.

Chris Penrose, VP and GM, south Texas AT&T said: “We continue to see explosive demand for mobile data services, and our 4G LTE network will enable us to offer even faster speeds to our customers.”

The announcement comes days after rival operator Verizon publicised the expansion of its 4G LTE infrastructure. The two telcos will be going head to head in markets such as Chicago and Atlanta where they are simultaneously launching 4G LTE services.